PayPal Interview Questions

About PayPal

Founded in 1998, PayPal democratises financial services. It empowers individuals and enterprises to participate and succeed in the global economy by accessing financial services. PayPal's open digital payments infrastructure allows account holders to transact and interact online, on a mobile device, via app or in person.

Headquartered in San Jose, California, US, the company has 26,500+ employees. Leveraging innovative technologies, PayPal makes financial services and commerce more convenient, secure, and affordable for more than 425 million consumers worldwide.

PayPal Recruitment Process

PayPal conducts on-campus and open role interviews online. The application process involves the submission of a customised resume and cover letter. The candidates are shortlisted based on their resumes and invited for an interview. 

PayPal follows a candidate-friendly approach for on-campus grounds and focuses beyond an applicant's technical skills and expertise. What makes the PayPal interview process different from other companies? The two separate technical rounds prior to the in-person interview with the hiring manager. 

PayPal Interview Process

• Online Test: Conducted on Hackerrank, this online round comprises two questions with 14 test cases each. 
• First Technical Interview: The candidate is given 2-3 coding questions that they are expected to solve within an hour.  
• Second Technical Interview: The duration is one hour. The interviewer puts up resume based questions. Candidates should also be prepared to answer PayPal interview questions on algorithms and data structures. 
• Managerial Round: Lasts for about 45 minutes. It includes both technical and behavioural questions. 

If the candidate is marked high by most of the interviewers, the recruiter contacts them within 2-3 business days, and the offer letter is sent within a week.

PayPal Technical Interview Questions: Freshers and Experienced

1. What is functional programming in JS?
2. What is the role of a callback function?
3. How would you explain the event loop to a beginner?
4. What is the singleton pattern?
5. What do you understand about RDBMS?
6. What is Node.js? List its major uses. 
7. State important SQL functions and their uses. 
8. What are the key features of Hadoop?
9. Differentiate between Node.js events and callbacks. 
10. Explain the role of the debugger keywords in JavaScript.
11. What is a shuffle() method? Explain with an example.
12. What is the procedure of memory management in Python?
13. What rules do local and global variables follow?
14. What do you understand about namespace in Python?
15. State the significant features of the Java Programming language.
16. How is the Java platform different from other platforms?
17. What does the term classloader mean?
18. What is the significance of static methods and variables?
19. Explain binary search.
20. Enumerate key differences between insertion sort and selection sort. 
21. How would you find the depth of a binary tree?
22. Write a program to print the nodes in a circular linked list.

PayPal Coding Interview Questions

1. How would you:

• Reverse a singly linked list without recursion.
• Remove duplicate nodes in an unsorted linked list.
• Find the length of a singly linked list.
• Find the third node in a singly linked list from an end.
• Implement a postorder traversal algorithm.
• Traverse a binary tree in postorder traversal without recursion.
• Find the missing number from an integer array of 1 to 100.
• Find the duplicate number in a given integer array.

2. Given an array "X" comprising "n" positive integers, how would you compute the inversion count of the array?

3. For a given data of tennis players, write an algorithm to rank them. 

4. Write a code to merge two sorted linked lists, "A" and "B." 

5. Given a binary tree and a number. Return "true" if the tree contains a root-to-leaf path and the sum of all values along that path result in the given number. Else return "false." 

6. Given a value sum and a set of non-negative integers, determine whether the given set has a subset where the values add up to the sum.

7. Given numbers from 1 to 100, write a Python program to arrange them in a perfect triangle. 

8. What is polymorphism in Java? How is it helpful in modern-day problem-solving? 

9. What do you understand about dynamic polymorphism and runtime polymorphism? Explain with relevant examples. 

10. State differences between method overriding and method overloading in Java. 

11. Explain the following Java terms: Encapsulation, Association, and Aggregation. 

12. What does an object-oriented paradigm mean?

13. What is a static method?

14. Does Java support pointers? Give reasons for your answer.  

15. What are the different Java access specifiers?

16. What are the major differences between lists and tuples? 

17. What built-in data types in Python?

18. What are packages and modules in Python?

19. What do you understand about slicing in Python? Explain with a suitable example.

20. State major differences between SciPy and NumPy in Python. 

Sample PayPal Behavioural Interview Questions

1. How did you use your negotiation skills to convince a difficult client?
2. Tell me about a time you took the initiative for a project. 
3. Share your biggest mistake in your previous role.
4. Have you ever gone above and beyond for a customer?
5. What makes you interested in this role at PayPal?
6. At PayPal, we believe in our ability to stay ahead of our competitors. How do you think you will be able to contribute to this trend?
7. What has been the most interesting project you have worked on? What did you learn from it? 
8. How would you convince a client to opt for a different course for a project? 
9. If you are asked to work on a client project that you are unsure about, what measures will you take to proceed?
10. What opinion do others hold for you? 

PayPal Interview Preparation Tips

In addition to preparing the most anticipated Paypal interview questions, candidates must follow the below-mentioned tips to be completely ready for the interview. 

• Practice answering questions in ways that demonstrate your innovative thinking. 
• Brush up on your fundamentals with a special focus on data structures, algorithms, and system design. 
• Develop a practice of talking to the interviewer throughout your coding process. Do not refrain from clarifying your doubts and assumptions. 
• Prepare an elevator pitch. Ensure that you cover your employment history, previous accomplishments and career goals. This preparation pays back in the final interview rounds while answering behavioural questions. 
• Take part in coding challenges to practice consistently in a competitive environment.

FAQs

1. How do I crack a PayPal behavioural interview round?

PayPal emphasises three significant aspects while interviewing candidates: 

• How do you work?
• What is more important to you? 
• What do you need to advance and succeed?

So, candidates must prepare a solid storyline that answers these three questions. Follow the STAR(Situation, Task, Action, Result) method to nail behavioural interview questions. 

2. Why do you want to join PayPal?

laborate on the company's inclination towards collaboration, wellness, innovation, and inclusion. Also, weave in your soft skills such as teamwork abilities to tell how you would benefit them. 

3. Does PayPal pay a good salary?

The average base salary for Paypal employees is $113,883 per annum. The company also offers bonuses, benefits, and other perks.

4. What eligibility criteria does Paypal have?

Candidates must satisfy the following eligibility criteria:

• A graduation degree in CS, IT, Bioinformatics or other relevant subjects. 
• A minimum CGPA of 7 and a minimum of 70% in high school. 

5. How do I introduce myself in a PayPal interview?

Candidates can talk about their journey into technology and relevant educational background, Do not restate your resume. Try to incorporate different information in your statements, like what drew you to coding or why was web development or any other skill a good fit for you. 

6. Does PayPal pay its interns?

Yes, Paypal interns get paid. The company welcomes undergraduate and graduate students to work on real, relevant initiatives via internships.

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